Kal plays Ahmed Amar, a teenager living in suburban Los Angeles. A suicide bomber has just blown up a bus downtown. We meet Amar when the FBI arrives in the suburbs to take his father away for reasons unknown to viewers. A drunk neighbor, Stan, watches Amar’s father being taken away and proceeds to attack Amar, calling him a terrorist. The kind liberal Mr. Wallace, who lives across the street, witnesses the attack and intervenes, gently saying, “Stan, he’s no more of a terrorist than you or me.”
The Wallace family takes Amar in. Ironically, Amar then receives a phone call from (gasp) an evil Muzzie terrorist, Fayed, the cartoonish archvillain of the show. Amar proceeds to hold the family hostage, demanding that Mr. Wallace deliver a package to Fayed. (He can’t do it himself, because he’s injured from the hate crime.) When Mr. Wallace’s teenage son asks, “Why are you doing this? We’re friends,” Amar responds, “We’re friends?! You can’t even pronounce my name. It’s not Aw-med. It’s ACCCCCCH-med.” (And it’s not Kal Penn, it’s Kalpen Modi.) Mr. Wallace later proclaims, “Stan was right. You are a terrorist.” Mr. Wallace then leaves to deliver the package. A little while later, counter-terrorist agents enter, killing Amar and saving the Mrs. and younger Wallace. But it’s too late. The delivered package helps set off a “suitcase nuke,” presumably killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process. So what are the morals of Ahmed Amar’s story? You can’t trust brown people, even the ones living in posh suburbs who speak with American accents. If they ever correct your pronunciation of their names, call the FBI right away. And if you happen to witness a hate crime against an Arab-looking person, let the attack continue. Don’t interfere. Chances are, the victim was about to help detonate a nuclear bomb anyway.
In addition to the improbable storyline, the characters were poorly developed. We never understand why someone like Amar, a teenager who lives in a ritzy neighborhood, would be a terrorist. All we know is that he’s a brown Muslim and that he’s in cahoots with some very bad people. And that he shouts in Arabic before he fires his gun. When Amar’s hostages ask him why he wants to be a terrorist, he replies, “It’s not because I want to. It’s because I have to.” Well, that still doesn’t tell us anything.
I get that it’s just a television show. I get that Kal Penn is just paying his dues, and doing what he has to do to get paid. I get that it’s very easy for me to sit behind my computer and rail against shows like “24” and go to my cushy job in the morning while some of my college friends have been trying for years to make it into Hollywood with little success. I get it. Nonetheless, I’m not happy about the idea of brown people playing such two-dimensional, hateful roles. My worst fear is that some crazy person will watch this show and think, Hey, if Kumar Patel could be a terrorist, maybe that Desai kid across the street could be one, too. Even though he’s basically a nice guy, I know deep down that they’re all the same. It’s possible. I saw it on “24.”
Whats the deal with Kumar getting all the bad guy roles lately? Superman followed by 24 and now Law And order.
yeah– he was kind of creepy, it was a badly written SVU episode. why does sakina jaffrey always have 2 minute roles that involve her using a really bad fake accent (see heroes, sex and the city, etc.)?? she was pretty good in that random indie film “chutney popcorn” although this could be because the main actress/writer was absolutely terrible. and why did that other south asian brother on SVU have such an AWFUL accent– was he even south asian? i missed his name in the credits.
i’m hoping our brother kal gets more interesting and diverse roles in the future– i’m looking forward to the namesake although i really wish they would do short films based on the interpreter of maladies (such a better book!!).
a few final random notes:
1) my boss here at work has a son who works for new line and is best friends with kal penn– i hear random stuff about his life all the time. crazy!
2) ice-t, mr. cop-killer-turned-cop-on-tv was next to me in customs coming home to california from canada circa 1998– he came up to my shoulder. no lie. and i’m only 5’3″.
apparently kal penn said at the premiere namesake that he was very excited to play a non-traditional role, and he’s similarly gushed on the same on ztv interviews. while he-and all the many other south asian and middle eastern actors on 24 bother me a bit in general because of their participation in the project-he deserves a break. his last flick went nowhere:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/van_wilder_2/
there are many ways to achieve the ends of racial equality on tv but it’s a mighty uphill struggle. (See the above Burn Hollywood Burn comment) (also makes me worry about obama). he did a pretty good job in that role tho so kudos to ahhhhmed for advancing his career.
k 24 has horrendous politics. but i don’t believe in censorship. plus, lest us forget that it is filled with many nuances that provide a small counterweight; in this season: a converted former islmamic militant comes to the us to stop the attacks; an african american president; an african american woman defending the islamic association of america; important points within the administration re civil liberties; a president who respects civil liberties; and a Muslim man who decides to stay in jail to be an informant. In other episodes a white girl who is the secret terrorist; a muslim kid dating a white girl; Muslim kids in a store who help Bauer.
OK, I can’t say it’s a positive show for Muslims with a straight face but I love it. But while TV perpetuates stereotypes, it also has the potential to provoke thinking: it’s the only real food of America. While it was bad for the hate crime against Kal Penn to have potentially stopped a terrorist attack, it is super good that a former Hamas character is working hand in hand with CTU in a battle that could save “hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of lives.”
The Ambassador used to read the Indian news on the weekends in New York back in the day … and its perfectly fine to hold actors to the same sort of ethical standards around the roles they take as any other artist or working stiff/cog in the system. There’s no absolution just because its hard to get work … history is full of responsible, stand up performers who turned down roles they found socially or politically unacceptable so the template is out there … if you choose to take the roles … take the lumps along with the paychecks.
Maybe Kal has some bills to pay. He was one of the producers of “Van Wilder 2” so you know he lost his shirt (at least the sleeves) when it bombed at the box office. I hope he gets more work, b/c he’s becoming the desi version of Antonio (Huggy Bear) Vargas…whenever someone needed a pimp, junkie or janitor, Antonio was (one of)the several black actors during the 70s who played the pimp/thug character rotated in those several cop shows back then.
-offtopic I wonder what happened to his castmates from “Dude, Where’s The Party?” (Where’s The Party, Yaar?), if any of them have done other work?
Does anyone know if the terrorist who blew up the bomb, was he Kumar’s brother in white castle?? God kumar why don’t just grow up! haha
it looks just like him.
Why do you people always have to make it a “race” issue. its such a sickening aspect of this usually good site. THis is a “religion” issue and please if you despise it at least do NOT misrepresent the situation even if its bigotry you suspect or allege. What brown people? Ismail “royer” a white muslim was convicted for terrorist activities last year. On what basis did you JUMP from the episode analysis to the charge of “condoning hate crimes against BROWN” people. please please show me cos i Do NOT see the logical progression of paranoid anti-racists.
I agree with Tushar. It has nothing to do with race issues half the time. Mr. Penn acts out of a career choice, not to spread a message to the world or any such ridiculous notion as that. He also played a rapist in Law & Order, as was previously mentioned. Are you going to try and say that he’s creating a “brown people = bad, sick, rapists” image too? It’s a television show.
Speaking of brown people and race last nights Law & Order episode (a repeat) was much better portrayed in terms of racial tension, Americanism, terrorism and the situation muslims face in this country than 24 or any of those previous episodes. The ending was really interesting and very well done.
Be careful what you wish for. Do you want the characters to start think in italicized letters? that’s what dan brown does for “character development”
in fact, one of the 24 creators wanted to adapt the da vinci code for a tv series or something…although i can’t imagine Magneto yelling “Robert, WHERE IS THE HOLY GRAIL?” at Carl Hanratty/Woody